Last week, the State Department learned that twice this summer China had tested a new hypersonic missile weapon with nuclear capabilities. According to the Financial Times, the rocket employed a “fractional orbital bombardment” that also had the guidance ability to “glide” around the earth in orbit.
The test reportedly stunned the Biden administration, and comes on the heels of a string of embarrassing global events for the US, including the fall of Afghanistan and Russia opting not to raise natural gas supplies to Europe after the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Secretary of State Tony Blinken reacted with a series of “deeply concerned” letters. The State Department had once again been caught flat-footed.
But fear not: Blinken has his priorities straight. This week, his State Department responded forcefully and with great clarity to its adversaries and hostile foreign regimes around the world: by recognizing International Pronouns Day. The agency stands in solidarity with people who list pronouns “on their email and social media profiles” through ShareAmerica, the department’s platform for communicating American foreign policy worldwide.
The State Department’s blog brags that “the White House also debuted a website contact form with gender-neutral pronouns and the non-binary prefix ‘Mx.’ And the Department of State announced June 30 that US passport forms will allow applicants to choose male or female gender, regardless of what their other documents indicate, and will eventually include an option for non-binary, intersex and gender-nonconforming people.” Neat!
This odd behavior from the State Department seems to confirm that the Biden administration is more interested in the whims of Twitter users than in diplomacy. These little acts may seem harmless, but they demonstrate how our government prefers to emphasize performative wokeness than to confront the growing threats against our country. They make America seem weak — and there are consequences to that.
Remember how, during the Afghanistan debacle, Blinken and Biden reserved their harshest words for the governor of Florida, while attempting to remind the newly installed Taliban about inclusivity and women’s rights? The Taliban just beheaded a female volleyball coach and is still keeping girls out of school.
China does not give its new hypersonic weapons pronouns. Vladimir Putin is not concerned about gender-neutral bathrooms at the United Nations. The Taliban cares not about equitable hiring practices. Why does our State Department?
When China eventually moves on Taiwan, the Biden administration will sit back and wonder how it all happened, just as Russia moved on Ukraine without repercussions. The answer will be staring them/they/thx right in the face.
